24 September 2010

"My son is in his late 30s and drifts aimlessly through life. How do I motivate him?"

To which I replied ... What does it matter if he is "drifting aimlessly". I suppose if he was some kind of career drone you'd be happy. There most probably is no point to existence other than to explore the experience. And there is an infinite number of ways for each of us to choose how we are going to do that. Get on with your own autonomous adult life choices and let him get on with his.

16 September 2010

... I believe in trying ideas out, living ideas, putting them into practice, making commitments and experimenting, rather than just collecting ideas in books on shelves or just discussing them endlessly. Doing and Being. Do Be Do Be Do.

... I also believe in being consciously fallible, imperfect. Being too right-on can just end up making people feel defensive, guilty, apologetic, cornered etc without them actually evolving. I prefer to live life in the shades of grey.

... I strongly believe in making a conscious effort not to collude in any "them and us" divides. Judging people by their appearances or their background or their job, for instance, is the same irrational nonsense as racism and should be rigorously guarded against. I'm especially wary of activists who refer to others as "scum". This doesn't mean we have to be po-faced and humourless. It just means our humour has to be a little more creative and less knee-jerk.

07 September 2010

At one extreme, there is the proposal that Islamic full-face veils be prohibited. And at the other extreme, Steve Gough, "the Naked Rambler", is currently serving a 21 month sentence for "contempt of court"...

04 September 2010

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

STRAY SOD

A Stray Sod is an enchanted clump of grass.

When one steps on the clump, it triggers a magic spell and under the influence of this spell, all the familiar landmarks have disappeared. The road you walked upon is suddenly gone and no matter how hard you look, it can not be seen again.

In other cases, a traveler can suddenly notice that he is walking in a completely different direction, and no matter which way he turns, he cannot find the right direction again.